Tag Archives: Nutriway

I’ve occasionally received questions about whether Amway uses genetically modified organism (GMO) crops in their products, in particular in Nutrilite products. I’m personally not overly concerned by GMO if it’s from a company I trust. In past years “gmo” had a simpler name – farming! We’ve been genetically modifying our food supply for thousands of years, through transplanting and interbreeding of different plants and animals. Now we can just do it faster and in a more controlled situation.

Still, I understand peoples concerns. On the weekend though, there was a surprising article posted in China’s People’s Daily Online – Is Amway Nutrilite protein powder as addictive as heroin? The article is a bizarre, non-scientific hit piece, against both Amway and GMO. It cites some studies that found problems with some GMO animals. That’s kind of like saying you shouldn’t eat strawberries (a man-made hybrid fruit) because breading a donkey and a horse will give you an infertile mule. Just plain silly.

But it gets sillier. The article says, about Amway protein powder …

“people really feel better to take the Nutrilite protein powder but feel not as good as before if stop taking it”

… and claim this is evidence the product is addictive and creates dependence like heroin! Right. So if I give a badly dehydrated person water … they’ll feel better. If I stop it and let them get badly dehydrated again, they’ll feel even worse.

Bad water! Bad bad water!

The article has obviously been written or sourced from an Amway competitor, and there’s a big clue to this when we go back to the discussion on GMO –

“Industry insiders said that the Amway Nutrilite protein powder sold in China contains protein from GM soybeans grown in the United States.”

“Industry insiders” huh? That’s code for “competitors”. Still, I was interested if Amway was using GMO so I started googling around, and I found several documents of interest. One was the All Plant Protein Powder FAQ, produced by ” TECHNICAL REGULATORY SERVICES, Access Business Group, South Africa”. Access Business Group (ABG), a part of Alticor, is responsible for manufacturing Amway products. The FAQ says –

42. How do we verify that we use non-genetically modified soybeans?

We follow the European Union standard for providing non-genetically modified ingredients. The supplier of our soy protein isolate has a
stringent quality control system in place to ensure they provide us with non-genetically soybeans. We also ensure this requirement is being
met by using a test known as polymerase chain reaction, or PCR testing. This advanced methodology can test for the presence of genetically
modified DNA.

This makes it pretty clear this product has no GMO. But is it perhaps different in different markets? I also found, from the same group at ABG, an FAQ on Nutrilite and Organic Farming –

22. Do Nutrilite farms utilize GMOs or GMMs?
Nutrilite has a long tradition of using organic farm practices on its farms. This policy includes using only traditional
farming methods and natural methods to control insects and prevent crop disease, and has been extended to preclude
the growing of GMO and GMM plants on any Nutrilite farming operation. It reflects Nutrilite’s commitment to providing
customers with products that address all of their concerns

So, Nutrilite farms don’t use GMO/GMM and in Europe/South Africa at least, they follow EU standards for suppliers. The final nail in the coffin for the People’s Daily claim is this, the Nutrilite Global GMO Policy, which states –

All ingredients for Amway core branded products (Nutrilite, Positrim) will be non-GMO or IP with a recombinant DNA threshold of 0.9% with the exception of
flavors, and subcomponents with no function or presence in the final formula.

So there you go. With some minor exceptions, Amway and Nutrilite don’t use GMO ingredients.

A week ago, as noted by Sven on Amway Talk, Amway Europe websites announced a new “viral” campaign centered around Team Nutrilite star Ronaldinho would be launched today, December 1, 2008.

As of 2200PM GMT the www.everykickcounts.com website has not yet been updated, however I’ve been doing some digging in this campaign definitely looks interesting. You know all those chain mail spam emails you get, claiming that if you forward the email to your friends, Microsoft or some other company will donate money to some great charity or another? And how they’re pretty much all hoaxes?

Amway is about to change all that.

As you might know, every time Ronaldinho kicks a goal, Amway donates $10,000 to the Amway One by One campaign for Children. Well, now the rest of us, and I mean everyone, has the opportunity to join in the fun. Apparently what’s going to happen is you can register on the Every Kick Counts website, and every time you send an email to a friend or message it to them via Facebook or Orkut, Amway will count that as a “kick” and donate to the campaign. Your friends of course can then “kick” the ball on to their friends and so on and so on, and you can track your “kicks” as they go around the world! From some text I believe will be on the new site-

Can you help us reach 10 million kicks? It’s easy. Just send one to your friends. They’ll get an email from you and Ronaldinho, encouraging them to kick it on. Because for every kick, NUTRILITE™ will make a donation to the AMWAY ONE BY ONE™ campaign. Then come back and check to see where in the world your kick has gone. Or start another one. Because Every Kick Counts.

What a great viral campaign! Truly showing the power of “word of mouth” networking, getting the Nutrilite and Amway brands out there, and continuing the great work Amway is doing for children in conjunction with UNICEF and other great charities around the world.

For those awaiting my next post, as alluded to last week, my apologies. I injured my shoulder and haven’t been the most efficient computer user the last few days. Hobbies like blogging have taken a lower priority!

Here’s a short clip of part of the press conference announcing the AC Milan/Nutrilite partnerhip, including Amway handing over a $10,000 check to the Milan Foundation for Ronaldinho’s first goal for the club.

You can read the official announcement on AC Milan’s website (also in Italian) –

Last September, Nutrilite quietly published issue #1 of a PDF Newsletter on Nutrilite.com. I’d started to give up hope there would ever be an issue #2, but I just happened to check Nutrilite.com today, and there it was – Issue #2! This issue includes articles on Nutrilite farming practices, new technology for diagnosing osteoperosis, various awards won by Nutrilite, as well as information about a recent convening of the Nutrilite Scientific Advisory Board.

For a few months now I’ve been working on a new website – Amway Watch. Amway Watch is solely dedicated to reporting news on the Amway business from around the world, using official sources such as newspapers, Amway press releases, court documents and such.

This site, The Truth About Amway, will continue to break news on controversial and other topics that are generally not of interest for most people and not “in the mainstream”. The Blog area will also continue to provide my thoughts and analysis on various topics about the Amway Business. I won’t however be updating the front page on general “news” as much as I might have in the past – the focus for that will be Amway Watch. Continue reading Announcing Amway Watch→

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Thanks for visiting! This site is my personal opinions about the Amway company. I've been researching, blogging and commenting on Amway and Multilevel Marketing for more than a decade.
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